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Calvin Places Third in Deb Vercauteren Program of the Year Award Standings

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Calvin College has finished in third place in the second annual Deb Vercauteren Program of the Year Award standings as announced by the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association. A year ago, Calvin finished fifth in the inaugural year of the award.

In what was an extremely close finish between UW Oshkosh, MIT, and Calvin, the Titans pulled out the Program of the Year victory via their second-place team finish at last weekend’s NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. In the meet, UW Oshkosh with 53 held off MIT’s third-place showing (37) and Calvin’s fifth-place finish (35). In the final Program of the Year standings, UW Oshkosh ended with 17 points (13 cross country, 2 indoor track & field, 2 outdoor track & field), MIT had 18 points (5 XC, 10 ITF, 3 OTF) and Calvin notched 19 points (3 XC, 11 ITF, 5 OTF). Last year’s Program of the Year winner, Wartburg – who won the NCAA indoor track & field team title in 2010 – was fourth with 21 points .

The NCAA Division III Deb Vercauteren Program of the Year Award is named after USTFCCCA Hall of Famer and former UW Oshkosh women’s head coach Deb Vercauteren. Her Titans won a combined 18 NCAA national titles and her student-athletes combined to earn over 345 All-American performances. Vercauteren won an impressive 36 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles (15 cross country, 11 indoors, and 10 outdoors).

The NCAA Division III Deb Vercauteren Program of the Year Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding NCAA Division III women’s cross country/track & field program. The award honors the institution that has achieved the most success in each academic year (spanning the cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field seasons) based on the institution’s finish at the NCAA Division III Championships.

In order to be eligible for the award, teams must qualify for the NCAA Championships. Scoring is based on the team’s finish at each NCAA Division III Championship in cross country, indoor track & field, and outdoor track & field (i.e. 1st = 1 point, 2nd = 2 points, 31st = 31 points) with the lowest total score for all three championships combined determining the award recipient. Ties among schools split points for positions taken.